5 Shows You SHOULD Be Watching!

The Americans (FX)

Elizabeth Jennings (Kerri Russel) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) are the average American couple. Two greats kids, a great little suburban home in the suburbs of Virginia and a thriving travel agency business. They live the perfect life and appear to be the perfect couple, except – they’re KGB spies. The story takes place in 1981 just after President Ronald Reagan takes office. It’s the height of the Cold War and the U.S.S.R. is the great evil that must be defeated. It’s up to Elizabeth and Phillip to protect the Russian interest through subterfuge, espionage and spying at it best. As the stakes get higher, the toll on their relationship begins to suffer. As their relationship begins to suffer, their very identity begins to get challenged. The FBI are close and their handlers are getting nervous. Rock. Hard place.

This is probably the most awesome deep-cover series since Homeland season 1. Now that The Americans has also been renewed for another season, it will be interesting to see if they can keep the intensity this season has produced. FX hits another home run with this series. This series is worthy of your attention.

Ouch. Liz is not one to mess with.

Black Orphan (BBC America)

Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) is a loser. Pure and simple. She’s selfish, grimy and an all around troubled young woman. However, stumbling upon a woman that looked EXACTLY like her on a subway station, then watch the woman kill herself by jumping in front of an on-coming train, she is pulled into a world unlike ANYTHING she’s ever had to deal with. Along with her best friend and confidant, Felix, they find themselves wrapped up in a lie and a mystery when not only does she assume the identity of her dead look-a-like – she also finds out there are MORE women that look exactly like her as well.

What’s going on? Who are these other copies of her? Who – is she?

Saddle up folks. This is one hell of a ride. BBC America is destination TV.

Defiance (SyFy)

I’ve only seen 14 minutes of the first episode and I’m hooked. In a nutshell, Earth was invaded. There was a war. Things happened, Earth was terraformed and still Earth managed to “win” the war. However, the planet is now populated by multiple different alien species and the planet is as inhospitable to Earthlings as it is to the alien races left on the war-torn and ravaged planet. Defiance, is the name of a city that occupies what was once St. Louis. In this town there’s an uneasy alliance and could also be a game changer.

This is an interesting series as it’s also a show with an MMO where players can play the game and (per the showrunners – but yet to be believed) can also influence the direction of the show in coming seasons. I don’t know how, but – that’s what was said. So yeah, I signed up and will play for the heck of it when I have time.

Either way, SyFy has a show I want to watch and they better treat this one better than they did Alphas.

Arrow (CW)

The CW isn’t known for it’s high quality shows. Not when it was UPN, nor The WB back in the day before they merged. After Smallville ended and it was announce that a Green Arrow series would soon take its place, well – you can guess that most people were a little skeptical that it would be worth more than the cocktail napkin it was conceived on. However, this series is DOPE. CW is still sticking with the “no superpowers” angle, but that’s not been a detriment to the series. Especially once Deathstroke the Terminator, Deadshot, etc. started making their appearance. From what I heard, even Ted Kord, The Blue Beetle, is soon to make his appearance on the series. I’ve never been a Blue Beetle (in any incarnation) fan, but this series takes some relatively mediocre characters and has made them worth the viewing.

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen was a PERFECT casting, even though I didn’t believe so at first. Paired with his partner, Diggle (David Ramsey) they make a fantastic team. It gives me hope that a comic book character can be done right on TV.

Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters (The Hub)

This is the last season of the series, but good God – this series has been great. Not good, but GREAT. Not better than Beast Wars, but on that level. This is a show that truly represents what fans of the Generation One series always loved about the transforming, mechanical aliens – that are more than meets the eye. This show is also more than meets the eye and they’ve ramped up the last season by bringing the Decepticon base to Earth, the return of the sinister Shockwave, the emergence of Ultra Magnus and upping the ante by introducing the Predicons.

If you are a fan, you must find the back episodes (on constant rerun) and catch up. It’s worth every last minute.